Intraocular pressure in leprosy patients without clinically apparent anterior segment pathology.

A widely prevalent notion is that intraocular pressures are generally lower in leprosy patients than in normal individuals. Applanation intraocular pressures were recorded in one hundred sixty-six leprosy patients who had no clinically visible anterior segment pathology and in one hundred and eleven healthy controls. Mean (SD) intraocular pressures in leprosy patients (13.6 (3.0) mm Hg) did not differ significantly from that of controls (13.1 (2.7) mm Hg). Eyes of only 1.5% of the leprosy patients had pressures of 7 mm Hg or less. Correlation coefficients (r) between age, sex and intraocular pressures were not statistically significant both in leprosy patients and in controls. No statistically significant differences in mean intraocular pressures were noted when leprosy patients were grouped according to the Ridley and Jopling classification. Duration of disease also did not affect the intraocular pressures. Neither did smear positivity or differing bacterial indices. This study questions the widely held belief that low intraocular pressures are a common feature in leprosy and contends that in the era of MDT where ocular complications associated with low intraocular pressures are thought to be less, the occurrence of low intraocular pressure may not be as common a phenomenon as it is believed to be.